FreeLotto Builds Traffic With Online Fundraising

FreeLotto.com has partnered with Community Connect to bring Asian-American and African-American communities to the site and raise money for nonprofits serving the two groups.

During a 60-day period, from February through March, FreeLotto.com recorded more than 100,000 new registrations generated by two Community Connect Web sites, BlackPlanet.com and AsianAvenue.com.

The partnership also raised $42,921 for Project S.H.E. (Support. Heal. Educate.), a breast cancer prevention group for African-American women, and $16,083 for Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M), which registers potential Asian donors for the National Marrow Donor Program, said Andrew Lokko, a spokesman for Community Connect.

BlackPlanet and AsianAvenue invited members to sign up for FreeLotto's daily free sweepstakes games. A hyperlink brought visitors to FreeLotto.com.

For each BlackPlanet member who signed up, FreeLotto and Community Connect each donated 25 cents to Project S.H.E. For each AsianAvenue member who signed up, the two companies donated 25 cents to Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches.

FreeLotto also has used its relationship with charities to increase click rates for advertisers.

FreeLotto offers lottery-style games with prizes of up to $10 million to users who choose six or seven numbers, then click on an advertising banner or respond to "Plan to Buy" questions to submit their numbers. FreeLotto has more than 17.5 million registered users.

Community Connect Inc. has developed three sites targeting U.S. ethnic communities: BlackPlanet.com; AsianAvenue.com; and MiGente.com, which means `my people' in Spanish. These sites provide members with free personal pages, forums, chat rooms, instant messaging, content and news pertinent to the group. They allow advertisers to target ethnic and niche audiences.

BlackPlanet has 2.4 million registered members, AsianAvenue has 1.5 million registered members, and MiGente has 100,000 registered members.